China Reform Monitor: No. 992

September 23:

China has implemented a series of retaliatory procedures targeting Japan in response to its nationalization of the Diaoyu islands. New measures include: delaying work visas for Japanese companies’ employees with operations in China; cancelling organized tourist groups to Japan; and stiffened customs clearance procedures against merchandise imported by Japanese companies and on key components for their factories in China. The Chinese public has vowed to boycott Japanese goods, Kyodo news agency reported on September 21. China has cancelled all Japan-related cultural and publicity events including a ceremony marking the 40th anniversary of the normalization bilateral relations, The Japan Times reports. Beijing municipal authorities have ordered publishers not to release books related to Japan or by Japanese authors, Kyodo reports.

September 25:

About 40 vessels asserting The Republic of China’s (ROC-Taiwan) claim to sovereignty over the Diaoyu islands and 8 Taiwan Coast Guard ships entered the waters around the disputed islands prompting a standoff with Japan’s Coast Guard which patrols the area, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reports. Japan’s coast guard warned the boats not to enter “Japan’s territorial waters” and Taiwan’s surveillance ship responded that the waters belong to the ROC and that the boats were engaged in legitimate operations and urged the Japan’s coast guard to withdraw. Reuters published images of ROC and Japanese vessels firing water cannons at each other at close range.

September 26:

By 2015 China will use drones, i.e. unmanned aerial vehicles, to strengthen marine surveillance over uninhabited islands including the Diaoyu Islands (Senkaku in Japanese), Huangyan (Scarborough Shoal) and Ieodo (Socotra Rock), the Korea Herald reports. Although the plan appears to target the Japan-controlled Diaoyu islands, Ieodo’s inclusion among those islands soon to be under Chinese drone surveillance prompted Seoul to announce that “if China’s intention of surveillance is aimed at laying a jurisdictional claim to Ieodo, we will protest and request China stop,” the Yonhap news agency reports.

[Editor’s Note: Ieodo, which is 4.6 meters under sea level, lies within both China and South Korea’s exclusive economic zones (EEZ). Although a country cannot claim a submerged rock, South Korea effectively controls Ieodo, where it built an unmanned maritime research station in 2003. The underwater rock, located 149 km from Korea’s Marado Island and 247 km from China’s Tongdao Island, has been part of talks since 1996 to delimitate the countries’ EEZ.]

State-run petrochemical giant Sinopec has suspended production and launched investigations into three subsidiaries in Guangdong after official CCTV broadcast footage showing government inspectors berating the company for regulatory and pollution violations. In the report the director of the environmental bureau’s inspection office pounded a table and shouted: “This is a blatant violation. No one supervised the companies and asked them to correct their wrongdoings even though it was crystal clear that their pollution emissions were beyond national standards.” One Sinopec subsidiary, Zhanjiang Dongxing Refinery, dumped untreated toxic sewage in storm drains and disobeyed a shutdown order. Another, Sinopec Guangzhou Petrochemical, illegally stored dangerous liquids. A third, Xinzhongmei Chemical Industrial, used tap water to dilute its waste before dumping it, The South China Morning Post reports.

September 27:

India and Vietnam have held a security dialogue amid the backdrop of common fears of China’s domination over the East and South China Seas. A military delegation from Vietnam met Indian defense minister A.K. Antony for security talks in New Delhi; the topics discussed were not released. New Delhi and Hanoi have increased naval cooperation despite repeated bellicose warnings from Beijing. China’s territorial dispute with Japan has unnerved its neighbors making them more nervous about Beijing’s “dominance and belligerence,” The Asian Age reports.